Within the past year Florida passed an Open Carry Lite Law. Florida is NOT an open carry state, but those that have CWL can carry concealed, of course. What was happening is people where calling the police if they saw the weapon print or if the barrel showed under your jacket or shirt or if by chance the wind should blow open your shirt or jacket and someone saw your firearm. The Lite Law took care of that problem. It is still a major crime and will get you in major trouble if you flash your firearm for no other reason that to scare someone. Most likely anyone doing that would NOT be a CWL holder and if they are then their CWL should be revoked post hast with appropriate legal action taken against them.

Florida CWL is not only for firearms. You can carry any weapon concealed, tazer, pepper spray, knife, etc as well as a firearm.

If you carry into an establishment that serves liquor you are not allowed to consume any. If you do and are caught you can and will be proscuted for that offense. It is against the law and your CWL will be revoked.

Everyone thinks that it is so safe here in TV. It is safer here than say downtown Orlando at night. But don't think that bad things can not happen here. Look around at all the small town and large cities around us. Unemployment is high, no jobs, lots of drugs etc. Do not believe that for one minute that when the government handouts stop and food/gas prices go up, that we won't become prime targets. We are old, we have money and things. So don't live in a bubble, don't be scared but take necessary precautions to protect yourself and your loved ones. Learning how to shoot and protect yourself is the same as having auto insurance and home owners insurance. It something that I have that I hope that I will never have to use.

I do not have nor want a CCW permit. I am prepared to defend my home.
JJ

I have a permit and carry for two simple reasons: I refuse to let myself or my family be helpless vicitms and I refuse to live in fear! It is my right as an american to own firearms. What part of "the right to bear arms shall not be infringed" is so difficult to understand?

Longrider,

I said I think it is ridiculous to carry a concealed weapon in The Villages. I, personally, think that a handgun at home is stupid but you can do that if you want.

Do you live in The Villages? If so, please tell me how you and your family are helpless victims and how is it that you would live in fear? This is the safest community you can imagine. Women walk safely at 5 a.m. around the streets.

The only violent crime I have heard of in the past 2 years was a lady who shot her husband in the shower. Retired police officers, both of them. Pistol in the house. Opportunity reared it's head when the woman snapped.

Figmo thinks we are very potential targets when the government entitlements are suspended for the surrounding towns. Ladydoc talks about having handguns for shooting rattlesnakes in New Mexico. Both are NOT reasons for handguns but having one in your home is your problem - not mine.

My message is that it is totally ridiculous to carry a concealed pistol in The Villages. If you feel good about having one at home - go ahead. No reason at all for carrying one when out in public in The Villages.

I know lots of people who thought it would never happen to them until it did. I carry every where because once I leave my house I can end up any where in or out of TV. Has happened many times. Why do I carry all the time you may ask? For the same reason that I buckle up in my car. If I knew when I would be in a car accident I would not drive that day. I carry all the time because if I do not I fall out of the habit or forget my gun when I might need it. I carry because it is my constitutional right to do so. I carry so that those who think guns are evil or unnecessary are a liitle safer when criminals cannot be certain that all their victims are unable to protect themselves. I carry to protect myself, family and those around me. I carry because a criminals do not wait for the cops to arrive.

I have yet to meet an anti gun person willing to put a sign on their lawn stating that they are a proud gun free home. I carry because I would be devastated if anything happened to my family because I was not able to protect them. I carry because I am a man who will not become a defenseless victim. I carry because I do know about guns and can separate the BS from the truth and know that before guns millions died by being hacked to death by swords. I am not naive enough to believe that crime will decrease by preventing good people from owning guns. I also know that criminals do not obey laws so passing even more anti gun laws only affects the good guys.

I carry because no one can assure me that if I surrended my guns the criminals would do likewise. It has been estimated that there are enough guns in the US to give 3 to every person. With so many guns out there, no law is going to do much as that ship has sailed a long time ago. I carry because I know that crime has decreased in States when they allowed their citizens to carry guns. I carry because attacks on tourist and the elderly got so bad that Florida had to do something to allow its elderly citizens to protect themselves and passed a law allowing us to carry and stand our ground and protect our homes. Last but not least I carry because it omce saved me from violence in an area that I considered safe and recently discouraged some young man with his hand on a gun I saw in his pocket from robbing a store right here in TV on 441. If you rely on the Daily Sun to let you know what goes on in TV then you are only partially informed. Hang around gun stores and hear from TV residents why they buy guns. Their stories never make the Daily Sun for various reasons. Sometimes it is merely residents who felt threatened and never reported it or like me, finding a worker in my back yard which has a wall around it, who said he just wanted water even though I had a hose in plain sight in front of my house. Perhaps those of us from urban areas know the dangers and evil out there while others have never been exposed to what can happen to good people and know little of guns but since they do not want them feel that we should not either. It is funny how people so easily allow the government to take away rights or pass restrictive laws when it does not affect them but it is a different story when it affects them. Sure I want no guns and the end of wars and peace on earth but I am not that naive to think it is going to happen in my life time.

An armed society is a polite society.

And to complete that quote "Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life."

Myth buster on firearm facts:
 

Myth: Guns are not effective in preventing crime against women

Fact: Of the 2,500,000 annual self-defense cases using guns, more than 7.7% (192,500) are by women defending themselves against sexual abuse.

Fact: When a woman was armed with a gun or knife, only 3% of rape attacks are completed, compared to 32% when unarmed.

Fact: The probability of serious injury from an attack is 2.5 times greater for women offering no resistance than for women resisting with a gun. Men also benefit from using a gun, but the benefits are smaller at 1.4 times more likely to receive a serious injury.

Fact: 28.5% of women have a gun in the house.

Fact: 41.7% of women either own or have rapid access to guns.

Fact: In 1966, the city of Orlando responded to a wave of sexual assaults by offering firearms training classes to women. Rapes dropped by nearly 90% the following year. ABC News, July 17, 2001

For the complete story please visit Gun Facts Version 5.0
Copyright 2008, Guy Smith www.GunFacts.info and see why we must all protect our 2d Amendment rights.

Further criminals call "Gun Free Zones" target rich environments, for only law abiding citizens will not have a weapon in these area. Criminals don't care and will bring whatever they need into these zones to do whatever criminal activity they want to engage in.

Before Vinny edited his post last night, he had in it a reason he carries a weapon is because last Christmas time in The Villages a man flashed a concealed gun to get a parking space. The man had a permit and he still did that! He got arrested and charged with assault with a deadly weapon. He would have been a lot better off if he had not been packing heat!

The shooting 2 years ago was a retired police officer who had a pistol at home and shot her husband. No gun, no shooting - maybe a knife, but who knows?

As I said, if I ever see a person in a bar in The Villages having a drink and they have a pistol concealed, I am calling 911 right away. If I ever see a pistol when someone is talking with me and I feel threatened, I am calling 911.

'Nuff said.

buggyone, if you see a pistol and no one has threatened you with it and you call 911, if it is me, I will own everything you have. You had better read the Florida Open Carry Law very carefuly before picking up your phone. Just because it shows does not mean that you have been threatened. I guess that you would have a heart attack in an open carry state like New Mexico where lots of folks carried it out in the open while shopping.

The person who flashed his gun to get a parking space needed to be arrested and charged and quite possibly do a little jail time for threatening someone with a firearm plus answer to a civil law suit. This person should have never been issued a CCW in the first place. When I was an instructor there were several people that I gave the class to that I would not certify as completing the training until they took more classes on safe gun handling and a class on the carry laws.

The person that flashed his firearm could have been shoot if he would have done that to an off duty police officer or someone who had been in law enforcement and is now retired. Because in real life, when an officer sees or hears someone yell "gun" someone is going to get shoot. The man who did that is way behond stupid.

Your number one Option for Personal Security is a lifelong commitment to:
avoidance,
deterrence,
and de-escalation.

Now 'Nuff said.

Well said.

Well thought out and well stated. Thanks.

:agree:

It's reassuring to know that arthritic, hearing and vision impaired individuals with slowed reflexes are armed and among us.

I only used to be concerned with the bad drivers. Oh well.

From what I have seen you have a better chance of getting run over by arthritic, hearing and vision impaired individuals with slowed reflexes, or maybe by one of the contractors who is in a hurry than anything else happening to you. So I would not worry.